(Gambelii) Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow. Credit: Ryan Schain.
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passerellidae
Genus: Zonotrichia
Species: Z. leucophrys
Introduction:
The White-crowned Sparrow is a song bird from family passerellidae. The Olympic peninsula has both migratory and resident species of this bird, a few of them earning classification as subspecies (Z. putegenesis) (Z. gambelii). White-crowned Sparrow’s have white and black striped plumage on their crowns. Juveniles have rusty brown striped crowns.
(Gambelii) White-Crown Sparrow. Credit: Shannon Jones
Distribution
In addition to the putegenesis subspecies, there’s a migratory subspecies of white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii) that migrates from Hudson Bay to as far as the western tips of Alaska, to breed.
Credit: All about birds.org
Habitat
White-Crowned Sparrow’s nest in the shrubs of understory habitats of mixed forests with open areas for foraging. Typically you can find a nest 5-10 feet high within a shrub. Nest materials include moss, lichens, dead leaves, and coarse grass.
Coastal resident White-Crown Sparrows such as the putegensis subspecies have been the subject of study for some time because of the huge variation in song between subspecies, residents, and even migratory species in some case (Baptiste 364). Figure 1 shows this distribution:
Credit: Baptiste 357
Food Habits
Primarily seed eaters year round. Insects and berries like Elderberries and Huckleberries during summer months. Resident species like putegenesis and are only found in Pacific coast environments.
Sounds
White-crowned Sparrows calls and songs are studied extensively because of their extreme dialects. All songs start with the same introduction, but are followed by a dialectic segment that is particular to the resident or migratory sparrow.
Call (Gambelii)
(Credit: Frank Lambert)
Song (Putegenesis)
(Credit: Ian Cruickshank)
Song (Gambelii) Taken near Mt. Denali, Alaska.
(Credit: Frank Lambert)
One can see the difference between Northern Migratory/Breeding White-crowned Sparrow’s in spectrogram form below:
(Baptiste 512)
Song. Provided by xeno-canto, XC472277. Recorded by Bow Tyler on 4/17/2019 at Mima Mounds, Thurston Co., WA.
Behavior
Males make most of the calls, while females are rarely ever seen or recorded making calls or songs. White-crowned Sparrows forage and stay within the lower canopy of trees or shrubs. Only the males will sit atop perches for calls and song.
Literature
Baptista, L. (1977). Geographic Variation in Song and Dialects of the Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrow. The Condor,79(3), 356-370. doi:10.2307/1368014
Margoliash, D. (1983). Acoustic Parameters Underlying the Responses of Song-Specific Neurons in the White-Crowned Sparrow. The Journal of Neuroscience, 3(5). 1039-1057; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.03-05-01039.1983.
Dennis Heinemann; Song Dialects, Migration, and Population Structure of Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrows, The Auk: Ornithological Advances, Volume 98, Issue 3, 1 July 1981, Pages 512–521.
John C. Wingfield, Jan P. Smith, Donald S. Farner; Endocrine Responses of White-Crowned Sparrows to Environmental Stress, The Condor: Ornithological Applications, Volume 84, Issue 4, 1 November 1982, Pages 399–409, https://doi.org/10.2307/1367443
Chilton, G., & Lein, M. (1996). Song Repertoires of Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrows Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis. Journal of Avian Biology,27(1), Pages 31-40.
Conservation Issues
Low concern.
About the Author
Maxwell Fogarty is a Junior at Evergreen State College. He is currently studying Biology
Leave a Reply